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Sleeping Habit

My son is already 8 months old but he can't sleep on his own. He always needs to be rocked really hard, back and forth in his cradle. The babies of my friends can sleep on their own at this stage. I wonder why my baby can't. Is there something wrong?

It sounds perfectly normal to me. Some babies are just better sleepers than others. Are you nursing or giving a bottle during the night? Your baby may be waking up because he is hungry or it could just be that he needs the additional night time comfort. If this is a new occurrence, teething or growth spurt may be to blame. Rest assured, this is perfectly normal, and it will eventually pass.

One of my children had to be swung hard in order for him to relax enough to be able to sleep. He slept in his swing for his first year of life until we finally figured out what the problem was and corrected it.

Thank you for your replies. As I've read about the story of Ma'am Kate's son, we evaluated our son right away. The good thing is, he's not likely to the situation because when he is really tired, he sleeps easily sometimes. I am still nursing him, day and night. As long as he needs milk, I am always available to feed him.

I want to reassure you, like the other ladies have, that this sounds quite normal for an 8 month baby.

In my experience, lots of mums talk about how their children sleep through the night but when you question them further they say 'yes, he only wakes at 12am and 4am' or 'he slept through with just one feed'. Formula fed babies often sleep for longer periods because formula milk is more difficult to digest than breast milk so feels heavier in their little tummies.

However, it is a great benefit to your son that you are breastfeeding him because this is the milk that nature intended for him. It is just right for his bodies. When we breastfeed at night the milk has 'sleepy hormones' in it which helps mum and baby to get back to sleep quicker. When my son was this age we were co-sleeping because then when he needed breastfeeding in the night I would not be disturbed much and this also helped him to settle down quickly.

My concern was not so much that the child was not able to sleep through the night on his own, but the fact that mum mentioned that the child has to be rocked really hard.

Do you find that you have you rock your son all night? Or once he is asleep, will he stay asleep for 2 hours, until he is hungry, or will he wake up after only a few minutes, and need to be rocked back to sleep "hard" until he falls off again?